


A Fairy Tail Life

by Forsake_Seer_XIV



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Angst, Eventual Romance, F/F, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Gen, Lovers to Friends, Misunderstandings, Mutual Pining, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Partners to Lovers, Pining, Romance, Slow Build, Slow To Update, Tags May Change, UST, oblivious characters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-25
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:20:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21555349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Forsake_Seer_XIV/pseuds/Forsake_Seer_XIV
Summary: Waking up in Earthland was not the best way to start her day, but like hell she wasn't going to make the most of a second chance at living!
Relationships: God Serena/Original Female Character(s), Laxus Dreyar/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 13





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ivorycrawler](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ivorycrawler/gifts).



Topsy-turvy was, perhaps, the best way she could describe her current situation. 

She had gone to bed the other night not only in her own home, in her pajamas, but as a full grown woman of twenty-five years, shit eyesight, and barely topping five feet and two inches.

When she had woken up...things had not been what she had remembered.

For starters, she had been out in the middle of some ruins, grass and vines having long since attempted and almost succeeded in reclaiming the place. Her vision was clear and her glasses not only hadn’t been on her face, but hadn’t been anywhere in sight and her clothes had been little more than a dress-like rag.

The main thing she had focused on, however, had been the size difference. The ruins had towered over her, as had the trees when she had eventually stumbled across them. Even the bushes had come up to about head height, some had come up to her chest.

And while she hadn’t exactly been well endowed there, she had most  _ certainly _ noticed she had been even  _ flatter _ than she should have been.

Everything around her had been different and it had on more than one occasion driven her to screaming in frustration in an almost child-like rage.

She hadn’t screamed at the world like that since she had been  _ five _ .

At the first civilization she had come across she had, rather guiltily, stolen clothes.

And money.

And food.

Hey, when one had pretty much been lost in the wild with no idea what was and wasn’t safe to eat, stealing food and nibbling on it had been one of the best things her stomach had thanked her for.

Even if it didn’t sit well with her that she had to resort to her old tricks to make sure she  _ got _ that damn piece of bread.

Parking herself in this...it had to be a city of some sort, because it was too large to be a village. Maybe it was a town? Either way, she had made herself at home here, sneaking from shadow to shadow and swiping food when she could.

Easier said than done, for sure, but that’s where her sudden shorter stature became a boon, just as it had been when she was a kid.

Running a hand through her hair - thankfully it was still the same damn color and length as when she had first gone to bed, but nothing  _ else _ made sense right now - Steph couldn’t help the scowl as she eyed the people on the streets.

No one was a giant. In fact, everyone was, sadly, normal sized. Which meant she had somehow  _ shrank _ . Considering that her emotions were all over the damn place and the few times she had seen her own reflection…

_ I’m a kid again. How in the name of all things holy did that happen? _ Even now, a month after getting into this city she still didn’t have an answer to that question. If anything, she only seemed to have  _ more. _

Symbols kept flashing in her mind’s eye and  _ something _ was coiling around inside her, as if she had some sort of snake slithering around between her stomach and intestines, but most definitely outside of her organs. There were days when The Thing coiled so tightly that it almost  _ hurt _ and then there were days when it seemed as if The Thing wasn’t even there.

Such moments coincided with when she found herself scratching the symbols into her skin or right after she, somehow, avoided getting caught after a botched food run.

Today, The Thing seemed to just be loosely coiled around her insides, heavy enough that she could tell it was there, but still enough that she could forget it was there.

Rubbing a hand over her face, Steph gave a soft sigh and focused her attention back to the crowd. She wasn’t blind. Rather, she was no longer  _ literally _ blind, but there were a few signs she  _ thought _ she was seeing but  _ knew _ she was missing.

Other than the general lack of cellphones and kids running around screaming their heads off - which wasn’t to say that there  _ weren’t _ any kids. There were. They just...stuck abnormally close to their parents and weren’t  _ loud _ \- the style of dress seemed…

_ I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore, Toto. _ The clothes weren’t so  _ out there _ or old or anything but there was  _ something _ about it that just  _ screamed _ ‘you’re not back home in Missouri anymore’.

As if the younger face in the reflections hadn’t been telling enough.

Sighing through her nose, Steph rubbed the back of her neck and settled herself a bit more comfortably on her slightly hidden perch between two buildings. The more she watched the people, the more she learned about this place and also the... _ environment _ she had woken up in.

And then she saw it.

A hood and darker colors, something that the eye would just bounce right off of, went up someone, she had seen that person waving around  _ magic _ \- holy shit had that surprised her when she first saw it.  _ Magic _ was  _ real _ ! - a few hours ago and now they and the hooded person were suddenly moving out of the street and towards the side alleys.

_ This _ was what she had been trying to figure out. She had seen similar things happen here and there during her time in this place and while she saw the hooded people sneaking around again she had  _ never _ seen the people they took. Normally, she would assume that they were assassins and try to stay out of the way but…

_ Curiosity is gonna be the death of me _ . Steph took off after the people, staying close enough to see where they were going, but hopefully far enough back that they wouldn’t realize she was following them.

When she finally caught up to them and managed to sneak into the abandoned building’s basement they were using, she wished she hadn’t followed them.

The person from the street was tied down in the middle of the room. An empty, but shiny, orb was on a pedestal by his head and the hooded people were standing around him and -

Blood oozed from his eyes, nose, and ears, a silent scream from his open mouth as his body convulsed and writhed in the bonds keeping him pinned to the floor, and flowing from him was a bright red stream that swirled about as it went into the orb.

She didn’t know what she was seeing, didn’t have the context to understand what she was witnessing.

But she didn’t need someone to sit her down and walk her through this like a classroom demonstration to know that the guy on the floor was  _ dying _ from what they were doing.

The Thing coiled inside her, tight and hot and her throat  _ burned _ even as her fingers started to scratch at her skin.

“Blöthr galdr!”  _ Stop enchantment. _ The words screamed out of her mouth and her mind translated it as if she had always known the words. The Thing was sudden loose inside her, heavy but there and whatever was happening below her had stopped.

_ Oh shit. _ The boy was groaning in pain, the red light suddenly disappearing, but now the hooded people were scrambling, shouting at each other to find the intruder.

Panic and fear clawed at her insides and immediately Steph backtracked the way she had come. She needed to run, to get away, to get  _ out _ of this city or town or whatever the heck this place  _ was. _

The boy would have to rescue himself from there.


	2. Chapter 2

Somehow she had managed to get out of that...that  _ place _ without the hooded people accosting her.

Steph didn’t know the name of that place and quite frankly she didn’t  _ want _ to know. How could anyone turn a blind eye to a kidnapping? To the screams she was pretty damn sure could have been heard  _ outside _ the building?

_ The fuck kind of city just lets people get murdered and not do shit about the bodies that pop up?! _ She had come across a few of those bodies when she had been darting around looking for a sleep spot. The most she had seen anyone do with the bodies was just to take them and dump them in a hole and walk off. She hadn’t seen anyone that looked like a police officer investigating the deaths, the bodies, or even those hooded people.

As soon as she had slipped out of the walls to that places she had, somehow, managed to make herself walk just far enough away that it wouldn’t look suspicious if she started running.

And  _ oh _ had she ran.

Her lungs burned and the symbols that kept flashing in her mind’s eye were mercifully gone. Her legs were starting to ache but she didn’t dare to stop. Fear or adrenaline burned in her veins and she tried to forget about that boy.

When she had first seen magic being used, she had thought it was a wonderful thing. In fact, she had immediately started to wonder if she could probably convince someone to reenact a few scenes from  _ Harry Potter _ or something because what would the odds have been that  _ she _ could use magic?

And yet she had  _ said _ something and whatever it was the hooded people had been doing to that boy had stopped and that  _ couldn’t _ have been magic, could it?

She lost track of time. Stopping only to rest and once she felt like she could breathe and move again she was back up and running. It wasn’t the smartest way to try and outrun that place or get away from any of the hooded people that might have followed her.

_ If _ they had followed her.

When she found herself in a forest, Steph finally paused long enough to try and catch her breathe. Her legs were shaking, her throat was dry, and her stomach was doing some weird, gnawing, twisting thing that made her want to vomit.

_ Water first. _ And maybe she can figure out how to find something edible to eat afterwards.

It was always difficult to tell where a water source was in a forest, but she knew how to read the land.

Somewhat.

_ Should of packed a small kit or something. _ A small thing of water would have been a smart idea, as well as a small thing of bread to nibble on until she figured out how to create a snare or a trap or something like that with utterly no tools.

She couldn’t do anything about it now and as such she tried to find her way to a water source.

In hindsight, it would have gone a great deal better if she had made sure she had a good footing while trying to go down a steep hill. As it was, she ended up tripping over her own feet and going down the rocky hill the fast, but hard, way.

“Ow,” She couldn’t help but whine out when she crashed into the bottom. It felt good to just lay down for a while and as if in response all her aches started to make themselves known to her. She had closed her eyes as soon as she had started falling and right now all Steph wanted to do was  _ rest _ .

“Ow?  _ Ow?! _ Is that all you can say after crashing into me?!” Her eyes snapped open as something, rather, some _ one _ wiggled under her and more than easily shoved her off of them.

Scrambling upright, she scooted backwards and focused on him, because that voice said the owner was male.

Scowling at her from where he was sitting, his hands positioned behind him, was, indeed, a male. A kid really, probably only a few years older than her current age, whatever that was. He had a shock of orange hair and his eyes were an equally shocking shade of blue.

“I  _ know _ I’m already good looking, but you should  _ really _ answer someone’s question when they’re talking to you.”

_ And he’s an asshole. _ Steph couldn’t help the thought as she scowled back at him. The boy’s expression had already morphed into a cocky sneer, his eyes flickering over her form more as if to mock how disheveled she looked than to see if she was even moderately attractive.

“Maybe you shouldn’t make it a habit to stand around at the bottom of steep hills. What were  _ you  _ doing standing there?” The words snapped out of her mouth and she watched the way his eyes widened. If it was outrage or surprise, she didn’t know, and quite frankly, she didn’t care.

Shakily getting to her feet, Steph dusted herself off. “Thanks for breaking my fall, asshole.” Talking was helping her mouth re-wet itself, which was good. It meant she wasn’t dangerously dehydrated yet.

“That all you’re going to say to me? One day I’ll be famous and you’ll  _ regret _ this encounter.” Pausing, Steph slowly looked at him. He was also on his feet and he was trying - and failing - to give her a condescending look.

“One, you’re not old enough to try that expression on  _ me _ . Two, are you  _ really _ going to be  _ that _ petty? Three, the day  _ you _ become famous is that I’ll agree to marry you! In short, ain’t happening!” First she would have to survive that long, and even then she doubted this  _ brat _ would ever be famous. In a world of magic, unless he somehow did something noteworthy that the world or continent would stop and gossip about, she rather doubted his chances.

“Ha! You’ll be  _ begging _ to marry me! Because one day I, the Great Serena will -” Steph lunged forward, tackling him to the ground and shoving her hand over his mouth.

“Shut the hell up!” She hissed at him. Fear pounded in her veins again and she strained her ears. Her eyes darted around and she couldn’t help but snap her head to the left and to the right, trying to pinpoint that sound she had heard.

The boy’s, Serena’s, eyes flashed and she felt his mouth move as if he was going to either retort or lick her hand, but he must have heard it too because he stilled under her, his eyes going wide.

“She went this way!”

“Damn kid sure as hell knows how to run.”

“Yeah, well what do you expect from a street rat? C’mon we need to find that bitch before she finds a Rune Knight.” The voices were coming from above them and getting closer.

“Shit,” Steph hissed and quickly scrambled off of Serena. “We need to hide. Now.” She wasn’t going to risk Serena getting caught and hurt because they were looking for  _ her _ .

“Who are they and what do they want with you?” Thankfully, he was whispering and he grabbed her wrist before all but dragging her into the bushes.

“I don’t know, but I saw them kill someone by pulling something wispy, red stuff out of him and into a shiny orb.” It still flashed in her mind, the way that boy thrashed as the wispy stuff got yanked out of him.

“Magic hunters?! You found a bunch of  _ magic hunters _ ?!” Serena hissed at her, turning his head just enough to stare at her with incredulous blue eyes.

“If the people in the black hoods are magic hunters, then yeah, sure.”

“How do you not know what magic hunters look like?” Steph gritted her teeth together. How was she supposed to answer that without making herself look like a damn lunatic? As it was, she kept her silence. There was a time to argue and a time to be silent to avoid being found.

They snuck through the forest, pausing every now and then to listen for the magic hunters. As they ducked the magic hunters the sun went down and soon they stopped hearing them all together.

They had found a tree that seemed to be raised up from the ground, allowing them to hide in the roots fairly easily. Of course, because it was a small space, they couldn’t light a fire - Steph didn’t have the tools for it and she didn’t know if Serena knew how - so they were stuck huddling together for warmth.

“You never answered.”

Steph sighed mentally and rolled her shoulders, even as she shuffled slightly closer to him. For someone that was barely older than her, he gave off a lot of body heat.

“The question about the magic hunters, you mean?” She felt him nod against the back of her head. “I saw them around, but I just never knew what they  _ did _ .”

“Didn’t your parents tell you? Mine did. Magic hunters don’t just take magic you know. They also take kids and sell them into the slave trade.” There was that almost condescending tone again.

“Don’t have parents, but I’ll keep that in mind. Where’s yours?” Steph wished she was facing him, or was at least just a tad bit further  _ away _ from Serena in order to see his face.

“Magic hunters got’em. Watched them rip the magic right out of their bodies to put into lacrimas.” Just based on context she figured that was the orb thing she had seen with the boy in that basement.

And yet...the word ‘lacrima’ seemed familiar.

“How old are you anyway? If the magic hunters are looking for you, you’d have to have done more than just saw them working.”

“I don’t know.” It was a lie, but how was she supposed to tell him, some random kid she had  _ just _ met that she had shouted a few words and made them  _ stop _ . “I...it’s hard to describe.”

“You did magic then. Why didn’t you just  _ say _ so?” Scowling out into the darkness, Steph lightly rammed her elbow backwards, smirking when she got a surprised and slightly pained yelp from Serena. “The hell was that for?!”

“Keep your voice down unless you want them to dig us out.” Oh she just  _ loved _ how outraged he sounded. It was like no one had ever dared to lay a hand on him before about his tone and volume. “Besides, it  _ can’t _ have been magic because no one has ever  _ taught _ me any magic.” And she sure as hell hadn’t learned any in the month she had been living as a full time orphaned street rat.

God what she wouldn’t do for a proper  _ bath _ .

“Whatever.” Serena huffed and Steph would swear he was pouting. She couldn’t help but stiffen, her breathing stopping when he shifted behind her. He repositioned himself so that his legs were on either side of her and his arms could loop around her waist and he pulled her backwards so that her back was against his chest. “Relax, will ya? And  _ breathe _ dammit! It’s gonna start raining soon so don’t get any ideas!”

_ I think  _ I _ should be telling  _ you _ that, seeing as to how  _ you’re _ old enough to be hitting puberty! _ Steph didn’t say it out loud though. Not when he was really warm and she was really, really cold right now.


	3. Chapter 3

If there was one thing that Steph rather enjoyed about travelling with Serena, it was that he always seemed to know when the magic hunters were near and when the weather was about to turn.

What she rather  _ hated _ about travelling with him, however, was that he would almost  _ constantly _ mock her lack of survival skills.

Like now.

“Honestly you’re lucky that I entered your life when I did, because you obviously wouldn’t have survived for very long out here.” Steph gritted her teeth and, under the guise of trying to stack the sticks together for a small fire, she started to form a small mud ball with dirt and saliva she was allowing to drip out of her mouth.

Serena, for all his talk, was calmly lounging against a tree, as relaxed as he could be and more than happy to watch her struggle. "Fire starting is a rather  _ basic _ skill and you can't do it? You should have stayed in the city if that-"

He never got to finish because Steph had spun around and silenced him with a gleeful 'splat' of a mud ball straight to his face. His arms swung around and he fell to his side before Serena started to hastily wipe the mud from his face.

"Maybe instead of sitting there like a princess you could  _ show _ me how to do this since its, apparently, oh so  _ easy _ ." It was so easy to be childish around him and, under normal circumstances Steph would have been appalled at her own behavior. However, once she privately considered that she had yet to bash his head open with the numerous, conveniently placed branches and sticks and rocks around them, childish retorts didn't seem all that bad in comparison to her more violent, extremely restrained impulses.

It also didn't help when, every time Serena managed to get a fire going, Steph was  _ never _ around to witness how he did so. As such, without a firestarter, she never got to figure out how it was done.

"Utterly disgusting! How'd you even make this?! You better not have -"

"Shut up and make the fire, your  _ holiness _ ," Steph snarled at him, standing up and feeling the almost numb rush of blood back into her legs. "Since its  _ apparently  _ so easy for you to do! I'm gonna catch some fish in the river." That at least, she knew how to do and she pointedly turned on the balls of her feet and stalked off towards the river, ignoring Serena's sputtering and spitting as he tried to get as much mud as possible out of his mouth.

As someone who had taken great pride in her outdoor survival skills, not being  _ able _ to do something as simple as starting a fire was more than just mildly disappointing. 

_ I can't start a fire. I can't make a snare. Hell without a fucking shovel or something similar I can't even make a fucking pitfall trap! I don't even have  _ rope  _ or reeds or any shit like  _ that _ to make a fucking net! _ She could feel the tears welling up and she bit down on the inside corners of her mouth.

In fact, she was pretty much limited to snapped sticks that she could use as small spears as her only means of catching  _ anything. _

_ I used to fucking  _ hunt _ for food! Bow and arrows, firearms, I could nail a damn buck as soon as I got a good visual on him and now look at me! I can't do _ shit  _ now! _

Warm liquid spilled down her cheeks and Steph couldn't help but close her eyes. Damn her young age and the emotional rollercoaster that seemed to come along with it. She used to have such a strong control over them that people had gotten  _ nervous _ around her because of how expressionless she could be.

She missed those days where no one gave a flying damn that she even  _ existed _ . At least then she could avoid the constant snide remarks that seemed to be aimed at her when she couldn’t do a former skill.

Fisting her hands, she tried to choke back on the sobs that threatened to spew from her mouth. Crying had never helped her before, and it sure as hell wasn’t helping her now. Crying had always been a weakness, a sign that she was open for more mocking and now she was just -

Furious with herself, Steph rubbed harshly at her eyes, baring her teeth in a silent snarl. Intend on keeping herself busy to ignore the swell of emotions -  _ useless things! I don’t need them! They just get in the way of everything!  _ \- Steph started to look around for a long enough stick. She needed one that just long enough that her shadow wouldn’t startle any fish, but short enough that she could actually  _ use _ .

_ Can’t light a damn fire? Fine! I’ll do  _ this _ part right at least! _

Or so she was hoping she could. Being utterly reliant on someone else like was making her question why she even bothered to continue going.

It didn’t take her as long as she thought it would to find a long enough stick, but it took her longer than she would have liked to snap it in half and to rub the edges of the snapped halves into somewhat decent points. As she worked she tried, rather desperately, to ignore the sobs that wanted to come out of her throat and the tears that still kept spilling from her eyes.

Her tongue would have imprints of her teeth on it from the way she was biting on it.

Stalking towards the river, Steph stared at the water, not daring to step close enough to look at her own reflection. She didn’t need nor want to look at herself.

_ Just find the damn fish and try not to stab your own foot like a useless idiot. _ She repeated that mantra in her head as she followed the river’s edge, keeping her eyes on the water in hopes of seeing a small, dark form darting around here and there.

“Well, well, well. Take a look at what we have here?” She froze, her insides going cold at the sound of the adult voice. She knew what she would be seeing, and yet she couldn’t stop herself from slowly turning her head over her shoulder, her heart pounding in her tiny chest, to stare at the black hooded man that was just slightly up on a hill from her. 

She knew what fear felt like. Had once called it her best friend besides pain and yet as soon as she saw the hooded man, watched him slowly stand up from his crouch -  _ fear tactic. His outfit is meant to intimidate and his slow movements more so  _ \- she couldn’t help her reaction.

For the first time in years, Steph screamed in fear and took off running.


	4. Chapter 4

For as long as he could remember, Serena had been ignored or sneered at. The only time anyone had ever  _ looked _ at him was when he was loud or when he annoyed others or just flat out drove them up the wall with his words and antics that they tried to attack him.

No one ever won a fight against him. He was good at fighting. Good enough that he had convinced himself that fighting people was the only way he could pretend that he wasn’t lonely. That he didn’t crave  _ something _ that the fights barely took the edge off of.

Shit had hit the fans though when the magic hunters had shown up in his hometown. He knew he shouldn’t have shown off his magic, his parents had warned him so many times that they had only gotten it because they thought it was the only way to keep him alive after his accident, but it had made people  _ look at him _ .

Serena wanted people to look at him, to  _ pay attention _ to what he did.

So he had shown off.

Then the magic hunters came.

And he had been on the run since then because he  _ knew _ he couldn’t fight them and win, and wasn’t that a punch to the gut? He hated the magic hunters for making him feel this way, for  _ reminding _ him that he was a rather pathetic scrap of human flesh who probably couldn’t hold a half-way decent conversation with someone  _ even if he tried _ .

The dragon soul in his mind was only too happy to agree with his self-assessment...or at least he  _ thought _ it was the dragon soul from the lacrima in his body. Serena was many things, but he wasn’t  _ crazy _ .

He was just...lost, alone, and had no idea who he was anymore. At thirteen he thought he would know who and what he was, but the voice in his head was always whispering to him, always reminding him he would never get anywhere because he was a weak, pathetic little flesh bag and maybe he should just find a cliff and -

Serena could never make himself listen to the last part of that comment. He would, in fact, deny to his dying breath that had been  _ exactly _ what he had been trying to do that day in the forest.

All up until a small ball of limbs, brown hair, and eyes too old for a face that young had, literally, crashed into his life.

Serena had seen the surprise on her face when she realized she had landed on him, and probably at his hair color. Orange wasn’t exactly a common color from what he had seen on his travels so far, but it  _ always _ drew attention to him.

He liked the attention. The surprise had been knew, and it had  _ thrilled _ him to see something other than annoyance or anger or even  _ hate _ on someone’s face when they looked at him.

And then he had, as usual, ruined everything by being his not-normal self and insulting her. Her eyes had flashed with annoyed anger and she had responded in kind  _ but didn’t make any sort of move to leave _ .

And then he had seen the fear suddenly splash onto her face and she had tackled him and he had  _ scented her _ .

Under the smell of a rotten city and unwashed body of a tell-tale street rat, he had gotten the hint of something soft. Not sweet or flowery or even  _ girly _ like his mother’s friend’s teenage daughter had been, just... _ soft _ .

And then he heard the magic hunters.

A small, distant hope had flickered in him then. Here was someone else. Lost. Alone. Running from magic hunters.

Just.

Like.

Him.

He had tried, in his usual way, to get answers. All it got him was soft, hissed words that sounded far too old for someone that was  _ maybe _ a few years younger than him.

He’d be generous and say she was no more than three years his junior, but he really did think that number should be closer to  _ five _ . 

Serena had yet to get her to tell him  _ anything _ about herself. Other than her name, that is...and that she  _ might _ have magic.

Apparently it might have been the first time using it.

He had kept her close, that day they met. Not because he had wanted to keep her safe, but because he had, selfishly, wanted to  _ not be alone anymore _ .

And when he had felt her start shivering under that tree and tried to be sneaky about curling up to him, he had shifted around so that he could offer up his body heat, but his damn  _ mouth _ just  _ had _ to ruin it!

And he just  _ kept _ ruining it.

Every.

Single.

Day.

The lacrima had given him a good nose, and he had been able to smell the bitter scent slowly become stronger. Bitter meant anger, and he didn’t want her to be angry at  _ him _ but he couldn’t  _ stop _ .

And then she had thrown  _ mud _ at him just a few minutes ago and it had  _ gotten into his mouth _ . Serena didn’t want to know  _ how  _ she had gotten  _ dry dirt _ into  _ mud _ . He would, however, admit that it was a first for him, having  _ mud _ thrown at him, that is.

And then she had stormed off and, after using his magic - he had learned, a little too late, to keep it hidden, but he didn’t dare show it off right now. Not until he was stronger - to light a fight he had taken off after Steph.

Rather, her name was Stephanie, but her expression when she had called herself ‘Steph’ had told him he would probably get punched in the teeth if he called her by the full name.

It wasn’t hard to find her. All he had to do was follow the bitter scent that was mixed with something he couldn’t quite place.

And then he had found her...and he felt guilt gnaw at him. The smell of salt had coiled up to his nose, and he saw the way her shoulders had shook. She was silent though. Just like she normally was when he wasn’t trying to pick a fight with her.

No one needed to be a genius to know that she was  _ crying _ . The way she had, quite clearly, rubbed at her own face told him how bad the tears were, and he had retreated.

And then he wished he had followed her because he had heard her  _ scream _ .

He ran towards where he had heard the scream.  _ Let it be a forest vulcan or a spider or something like that! _ He could easily, handle a vulcan. If it was a spider, he would make some grand show of getting rid of it.

Instead, what he found was a great deal worse. Magic hunters, three of them, had grabbed Steph and they were trying to -

“Gale Dragon’s Roar!” Serena could have taken the time to run, to save his own skin, but despite knowing he might have just gotten the both of them killed, he couldn’t make himself leave the younger girl to certain death.

Harsh winds ripped out of his throat and mouth and he managed to hit one of the magic hunters. The other two had sprung away, one of them having a tight hold on Steph’s hair.

“Well lookie here! Another rare magic!” The one griping Steph’s hair gave it a firm shake and Serena gritted his teeth when she cried out.

“Our lucky day, indeed.” The second magic hunter pulled out a weapon and Serena couldn't help the low growl that vibrated in his throat.

He knew that weapon, knew that if it even  _ grazed _ him it would absorb his magic.

"Let her go!" Fear coiled in his belly when they laughed and Steph gave off another cry, her fingers clawing at the magic hunter's hand when he twisted his wrist, pulling harder on her hair.

"Or what? You took out one of us, but you're just a kid. No way in hell you'll be able to take out the two of us." And with that the unoccupied magic hunter lunged at him, the weapon pulled back and ready to whack at him like a baton.

Or a club.

_ I think it depends on how I want to look at it right now. _

And the way he wanted to look at this was that he  _ wasn’t _ getting chased around the clearing, being forced to duck and dodge and bob and weave as he tried to stay just out of reach of the damn magic hunter and his oversized stick.

And he tried to ignore the way Steph was trying to thrash and yelling a surprising amount of obscenities at the magic hunter still gripping her by the hair.

It was a pain in the ass, but he saw an opening and he took it. Focusing his magic into his hands he launched it as hard as he could.

“Gale Dragon’s Wing Strike!” The shot went wide, sweeping around his opponent, making the magic hunter laugh.

At least until he registered what Serena said right after he had launched his attack.

The other magic hunter swore violently, clutching his side as blood flowed in a lazy dribble from him. Steph immediately rolled away and, instead of taking off running like he had damn well  _ told _ her to, she darted forward and tackled straight into the legs of the magic hunter he had been dodging.

The magic hunter crashed to the ground with a curse and Steph scrambled to her feet, her eyes wide in terror.

_ I don’t like that expression on her face. _

“We gotta run!” And Steph grabbed his wrist and had taken off running. Serena let out a small curse himself when he stumbled, but he managed to get his footing back fairly quickly and soon he was dragging Steph along as they ran through the forest.

_ Me and a damn brat who can’t use magic, against the damn world. I’ve really got the short straw here, don’t I? _

Running would have worked if they only had to worry about three magic hunters. It was just their luck - his luck if the dragon soul was to be believed. It was always him that caused the trouble and caused bad luck wherever he went so why wouldn’t this be any different? - that this group of magic hunters had a party of  _ eight _ .

The magic hunters had taken advantage of their brief moment of surprise to quick surround them, and unlike the group of three that they had outwitted, the remaining five here  _ all _ had those stupid, pain in the ass, magic draining batons.

Serena felt Steph grip the back of his shirt and he…

He was pretty damn certain this was how they died. Drained dry by a bunch of greedy, black hearted magic hunters that didn’t give a flying  _ damn _ that they were kids just as long as they could sell their magic to the highest fucking bidder!

“Ren…” He could hear the fear in that one word...whatever the hell that word was. He didn’t recognize it, but maybe it was a verbal tick or something.

“Dammit. If only I could rip the air right out of them,” Everyone needed to breathe, and if he could just do  _ something  _ that could make it impossible for them to breathe -

“Äftaka vindr fra fjandya!” The words that came out of her made the hairs on his arms and the back of his neck stand on end. There was a tone or something to those words that silenced the dragon soul in his head and made him think he had just heard something  _ Old _ .

With a capital ‘o’.

And that it should damn well be left  _ alone _ .

The magic hunters in front of him suddenly started gasping, their hands letting go of those hated weapons in order to claw at their own throats. Their clawing saw the material around their throats rip and shred, and soon he could both see and  _ smell _ the blood as they started to collapse.

It was only when the last one dropped to the ground in a motionless pile of flesh and clothes that Serena turned to look at Steph. She looked exhausted, her eyes seemed to struggle in staying open, and when he looked her over, saw a thin line of blood on her neck.

“Steph? You okay?” She blinked slowly, as if she had a hard time understanding what he was saying.

“That happened before too.” So that was her magic. Slowly, Serena looked at the magic hunters, making sure that they were all still down and not about to jump up and suck the magic out of them. They were all motionless and slowly, Serena tugged Steph into his side and carefully stepped out of the ring of bodies and deeper into the forest.

“Ren...what was that?”  _ Oh _ . So  _ he _ was Ren.

_ Now I have a nickname. _ Normally, nicknames bugged the utter shit out of him. In this case though...while he didn’t know  _ where _ ‘ren’ had come from, it wasn’t a nickname he thought he would end up hating.

“That was your magic.” And like a sharp rap to the knuckles, he knew what her magic. How could he not when his parents, specifically his father, had spent  _ years _ researching it? Was the reason  _ why _ the magic hunters had torn apart their  _ home _ . “That was a Lost Magic, Steph. It’s called Word Embodiment.”

_ And now it’s gonna be me and you against the damn world that wants to steal our magic. I think we can actually make it if we’re careful and if we get strong enough fast enough. _

Suddenly, the future didn’t look so dim.


	5. Chapter 5

Ren had told her everything he knew about her magic, which wasn’t much but it was more than enough to have cost his dad his life.

Apparently Lost Magics were something that were not only super rare, but super powerful as well when used. Most had to be taught, but it could be learned from a book or from someone else that knew it.

In Steph’s case, it has a hereditary magic that only popped up randomly once every few generations. Which, in short, meant that she would have to learn through trial and error and hope she didn’t get them both killed in the process.

And in exchange for the ‘free’ information on her magic, Ren had wanted to know where she had gotten ‘Ren’ as a nickname.

Which had led them to their current situation.

Three months after the Forest Incident, as they were both calling it, they were currently sitting on top of a roof in some large town. Between then was a rather large bottle of cheap - ish. Steph had snagged the first bottle of booze she had managed to get her hands on from the first bar that, woefully, paid more attention to Ren than to her - bottle of alcohol.

Normally, Steph didn’t encourage underage drinking. Ren had admitted to being thirteen and they had both guessed she was, roughly about eight or so. The only thing Steph knew for sure, was that she had not yet hit puberty.

Again.

Ren didn’t look the least bit impressed, but for now, he seemed willing to humor her.

“You want to play Twenty Questions. With alcohol.”

“Alcohol makes one less likely to lie.” That was her reason and she was sticking to it. She missed being able to have the occasional glass of wine with a large, thick book and having a one-woman date night.

Something flickered in his eyes before a cocky grin stretched over his face. “If you just wanted to see me drunk, you should have just said so,  _ darling. _ ”

She might just smash the bottle over his head instead. The option was getting more and more appealing.

“The goal is  _ not _ to get pissed faced drunk, Ren. The game is simple. We each get to ask the other twenty questions. Before the question gets asked, the other person has to take a swing, and they  _ have _ to tell the truth.” Ren raised a mocking eyebrow at her, pointedly looked her over, and then at the bottle.

She knew what point he was trying to make. With her size, it wouldn’t take her all that much to  _ get _ drunk, but she was counting on still having a high metabolism to counteract the effects.

“And what’s the penalty?”

“Liar loses the game, and  _ has _ to do a dare. As long as it isn’t  _ too _ humiliating or dangerous, it’s fair game.” Extremely risky to propose, but Steph figured that telling the truth would be easy. She had an adult’s mind locked in a child’s body. Ren was a legit  _ teenager _ with an ego that size of Jupiter.

Staying truthful should be easy compared to the shit she was  _ going _ to be asking Ren.

Two hours later, and Steph was seriously rethinking that.

Steph had been forced to do three dares, each one increasingly more humiliating and reckless. Ren, however, had been forced to do six dares in a row.

And now it was his turn to ask a truth.

“Okay!” He was slightly slurring right now, but he was mostly sober. “That name. Ren. Where the hell did that come from?”

“I’m surprised it took you this long to ask,” Steph took a sip from the bottle, taking full advantage that she had  _ never _ said how much they had to drink on each turn. “It’s kinda obvious.”

“If it was, I wouldn’t be wasting a turn on it.” He was focused on her, his blue eyes almost fever bright.

“It’s from your name. Serena.” His confused look had her sighing. “Okay, so it’s like this. The way I do nicknames is either by a main personality quirk or from the person’s name. In your case, it was either gonna be from your name or go around calling you ‘asshole’.” Which would have been hilarious, but she wasn’t  _ that _ childish.

Or petty.

...She might be that petty, but that wasn’t the point and she pointedly ignored his offended ‘hey!’

“So! I have ‘Serena’ to use. It’s already short, but it has a few syllables. Sir-reen-uh.” Oh what she wouldn’t give for a glass of water right now. “I ain’t callin’ you ‘sir’. You already got an ego and I strokin’ it.” She pointedly ignored the way he suddenly started laughing, taking the time to pause just long enough to waggle his eyebrows suggestively at her, a large grin on his face at her poor choice of words.

“Reen makes me think o’ ‘preen’ and ya ain’t a peacock. If any’in’ yer like a pranc’n’ pony. All...showy and dancy and shit.” And the alcohol was making her tongue a lot looser than she’d like it to be. “So dat one’s out. Ya can’t make a nickname from ‘uh’, so dat left me wid ‘Reen’ still.”

Steph paused to take a breath and to try and clear her head. Her head was still clear, but her voice was always the first thing that changed when she had too much alcohol.  _ Shit. I’m a lot closer to drunk than I realized. _ She lasted longer than she thought she would to be honest.

Sadly, she could see a good use for having a higher tolerance to alcohol.  _ Just...not for a few more years at least. _

“And it’s spelled ‘r-e-n’ in yer name. So dats yer name now.” Another fun fact about her and alcohol: she got overly chatty. More so than other people she had seen.

Ren stared at her, his face still a bit flushed with alcohol and his eyes still fever bright. “That is the most con...con…” His face screwed up, the alcohol obviously starting to affect  _ his  _ speech now. “Long winded way of picking something.” He spoke slowly, making sure to say each word slowly.

Steph grinned at him. “Nah really. Jis’ takes ferever tah say.” It took her, maybe, a few seconds to figure out what type of nickname to give someone.

She held out the half empty bottle him and he leaned forward to take it. His hand missed it a few times before he managed to take the bottle from her and Steph, rather gleefully, watched him take a far too large gulp from it.

He was, mainly, the reason why they were at half a bottle. 

Once he pulled the bottle away from his mouth, he gave a lopsided cheeky grin. "Hit me with your best shot!"

The song of the same phrase suddenly blared through her head, and because of the alcohol in her system, Steph found herself humming the tune. She quickly stopped when she saw the look Ren was giving her. 

"Question time!" She found herself childishly clapping her hands together and Ren snickered. For the sake of her pride, she was glad he wasn't full on laughing at her. She was rather glad he was about as close to sober as she was, because she  _ knew _ he wasn't going to like her next question. 

She was right when, right after asking it, he froze. The flicker of denial was first in his eyes, then in the way it moved over his face. Steph darted forward, clamping her hand over his mouth to stop the lie that she already saw the beginnings of.

One question that started a whole series of highs, lows, angst, and joys.

_ When was the last time you didn’t pretend to be someone that you aren’t? _


End file.
